Last season's Ohio Ms. Basketball, K.K. Bransford of Mount Notre Dame, will take her basketball skills to South Bend, Indiana, after her highly decorated career with the Cougars ends.
Bransford, who has played in an incredible 72 consecutive winning games for Dr. Scott Rogers in the powder blue, made her choice to commit to Notre Dame at the school gym Friday afternoon.
With her freshman sister Kailee shooting social media video, KK Bransford unzipped her hoodie to reveal a Kelly green Fighting Irish T-shirt. She had kept it hidden all day.
'She played out of her mind': MND, Bransford outlast Newark in 2OT for DI state title
Ohio Ms. Basketball: State's top hoops honor goes to MND junior KK Bransford
Even more difficult for Bransford was the fact she had visited her future teammates Thursday in South Bend. When she walked into Notre Dame's practice, jubilation ensued. She cited the family atmosphere as a key reason she decided to choose the Irish.
"They were going crazy!" Bransford said. "Some of them even teared up. Even through the little bit of time they've been recruiting me, we've gotten really close."
Bransford has led MND to a pair of state titles and there might have been a third had their 28-0 season in 2020 not been cut short by the coronavirus pandemic. This past winter, Bransford scored eight of her 21 points in a second overtime as MND defeated Newark for their eighth state title. By the end of March, she was basketball royalty.
Bransford was two-time Girls Greater Catholic League Player of the Year for the Cougars. Last season she led the league in four categories: points (21.4), assists (5.1), shooting percentage (51.5) and steals (3 per game). She was third in rebounding at 6.4 per game.
She chose Notre Dame from a who's who list of suitors. Maryland, Connecticut, UCLA, Louisville, Michigan, Arizona, Tennessee, Baylor, Texas, Duke and North Carolina were all in the mix just a few months ago.
"When you get recruited at that level it gets intense," MND coach Rogers said. "She just handled everything so well. She had a plan and stuck with the plan. In this day and age with social media what it is, she did a really good job of limiting herself."
From a dozen, the list was cut to three with North Carolina, UCLA and Notre Dame all making visits.
"When you come down to those three schools, they're all just class acts," Rogers said. "Her decision wasn't just a knee-jerk. She wrestled with it all this week I know. She's going up there to compete right away. It'll be exciting."
Notre Dame was 10-10 last season under new coach Niele Ivey. She took the place of Muffett McGraw in 2020. In 2019, McGraw led the Irish to a 35-4 record and a national runner-up finish in Tampa.
Familiar faces on Notre Dame's team are Abby Prohaska of Lakota West, who will be an academic senior but will have two years of eligibility athletically once Bransford arrives. Also, Madeline Westbeld of Kettering Fairmont is an academic sophomore but has four years of eligibility counting this season.
Westbeld's last high school game was a 47-41 loss to Bransford's Cougars in 2020. Westbeld and Bransford were the last two Gatorade Players of the Year in Ohio.
"We did discuss that a little bit," Bransford said grinning. "But, we're on the same team now."
With Bransford, MND has not lost a game since Jan. 14, 2019, against Centerville.
"Now that this is out of the way I'm focused on bringing another state championship to my team," Bransford said.
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